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UNTTED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED A. STARR, OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

ADJUSTER 0F WINDOW-BLINDS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 13,140, dated June 26, 1855.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED A. STARR, of thecity, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulShutter or Blind Slat Adjuster; and I do hereby declare thatl thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1, is a front elevation of a shutter orblind with my improvement applied to it, the slats being closed. Fig. 2,is a front view of a portion of the same the slats being open. Fig. 3,is a vertical transverse section of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicatecorresponding parts.

This invention relates to the adjusting of the slats of window blinds orshutters, and is designed to render them capable of being adjusted withease and facility to any angle and held permanently after being adjustedas desired.

The nature of said invention consists in the application of a springfriction bolt to one of the slats of the shutter or blind in such amanner that it shall turn with the slat and allow of the slat beingadjusted to any angle and at the same time bear with considerable forceagainst the inside edge of the side strip of the frame of the shutter orblind and owing to thus bearing against the side strip of the frame whenthe slat has been once set, retain it and also all the others which areconnected to it by the adjusting rod'in the position or at the angle atwhich it is desired to have them stand.

To enable others to fully understand my invention and make and use thesame I will proceed to describe it minutely.

A, represents the frame of the blind or shutter. B, B, are theslatsarranged in the same in the usual manner, being ca pable of turning andconnected together by an adjusting rod C, as shown in Fig. 3.

D, is the friction bolt. It is arranged to move in bearings a, a, on theplate E, which is attached fast to the front of one of the slats asshown in Fig. 2. The bolt D, has a shoulder b, formed on it for one endof a spiral spring F, to bear, the other end of said spring bearingagainst the rear bearing a', on the plate E, as shown. There is also aHat friction plate c, formed on t-he front end of the bolt, so that thebolt may bear against a larger surface and thus have a firmer hold, andbe capable, by the aid of the spiral spring F, which bears against itsshoulder and thereby keeps it in close and rigid contact with the insideedge of the side strip of the frame, of retaining the slat to which itis attached and those connected to said slat by the adjusting strip, att-he angle at which it may be desired to have them stand.

The bolt D, exerts friction upon the side strip always, and consequentlyif the slats be wide open as in Fig. 2, or closed as shown in black inFigs. 1 and 3, or partly open as shown in red in Fig. 3, or in anyposition, it will be capable of retaining them permanently so long asdesirable.

As the bolt is self adjusting by the aid of the spring, and also capableof yielding when necessary no inconvenience will be experienced in caseof shrinkage or eXpansion of the slats, it accommodating itself as isnecessary in either case.

The utility of this adjuster over other methods of adjusting slatsconsists in its rendering the slats capable of being adjusted to andheld at any angle, also in its simplicity and cheapness, and likewise inits ready application to old blinds in use without the necessity ofcutting away or defacing their appearance in the least.

Having the slats capable of being adjusted and then held permanently atany angle has long been aimed at but has never to my knowledge beenaccomplished in so perfect and cheap a way as herein described andshown.

W'hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is-The application of the spring friction bolt to one of the slats of theshutter or blind in such amanner that it shall turn with the slat andallow of the slat being adjusted to any angle and at t-he same time bearwith considerable force against the inside edge of the side strip of theframe of the shutter or blind, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

ALFRED A. STARR.

Witnesses:

Jos. GEO. MASON,

WM. TUsoH.

